This episode opens with a family classic: Barry admits (for the second time) to leaving Mom at the airport — “like a matzo ball” — setting the tone for a conversation that swings between laugh-out-loud moments and the brutal reality of caregiving during the holidays.

As the jokes land, the heaviness follows. Wendy breaks down a recent interdisciplinary team meeting (ITM) that felt less like collaboration and more like a trial — where Mom’s “behaviors” were listed, her comfort items questioned, and her rapid cognitive decline following a UTI was minimized. We talk about medication cocktails, overstimulation in care facilities, fall risks, and what it feels like to be blamed for a system stretched beyond its limits.

We also get honest about burnout — anxiety, exhaustion, and what happens when you’re showing up every day but still feel unheard. This episode isn’t polished or perfectly structured. It’s raw, messy, and real — because that’s what caregiving actually looks like.

If you’re listening while caring for someone with dementia, navigating confusing care meetings, or just trying to survive the holidays — please know you’re not alone.

Topics include:
• Dementia & Alzheimer’s caregiving
• Interdisciplinary team meetings (ITMs)
• Caregiver burnout & anxiety
• UTIs, medications & sudden cognitive decline
• Sensory overload in care facilities
• Sibling dynamics & family caregiving
• Laughing through dysfunction

From our dysfunctional family to yours —
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year.
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🎧 This Is Your Brain on Mom — where caregiving is messy, emotional, sometimes funny, and never done alone.

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